Covariate

The biotech sector is showing signs of rejuvenation amidst a complex investment landscape, as highlighted in a recent Nature Biotechnology analysis: https://lnkd.in/dXy82gd5 At Covariate, we understand the nuances of this evolving market and offer strategic support to ensure our clients thrive even in challenging times. 𝗛𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗸𝗲𝘆 𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀: 1. While funding is challenging right now, particularly for early-stage biotechs, innovation continues to flourish. Covariate leverages our intelligence platform to identify and evaluate the most promising innovations early, providing our clients with strategic investment opportunities that align with long-term market growth. 2. The gap between successful late-stage entities and struggling early-stage innovators is widening. Covariate’ comprehensive due diligence is helping VC's and institutional investors make informed decisions that balance risk and reward effectively, especially in a winner-takes-all market. 3. Signs of recovery are evident, with some biotech firms beginning to thrive post-pandemic. Covariate’s data-driven insights help clients spot early signs of recovery and growth, enabling strategic positioning and optimized investment timing. 4. The investment climate remains stringent, but strategic opportunities abound for the well-informed. Covariate assists our clients in navigating this tight market through targeted insights that highlight emerging trends, potential investment pitfalls, and opportunities for high returns. 5. In this complex landscape, making informed, data-backed decisions is more crucial than ever. Covariate’s platform curates and analyses vast amounts of data from patents, clinical trials, and research papers, ensuring that our clients can act on the most reliable information, reducing risk and uncovering hidden opportunities. As the biotech sector transitions from darkness to dawn, Covariate is here to light the way for your investments. Let’s discuss how strategic, data-driven insights can transform your investment strategy in these evolving times. #Biotech #Finance #StrategicInvestment #DataIntelligence #Covariate #VC #Hegde

The map of 45 years of US hybrid patent activity around claims qualifying as both “life sciences” and “computing” innovation by Matthew Chun. But let's go deeper! What is boosting this exponential IP activity trend the most are recent regulatory and technology paradigm shifts in biotech in-silico technologies, an emerging software as a medical device industry, progress in M.L./A.I. models and the lowered cost of consumer hardware and computing power. Don't miss out on this revolution, reach out to us if you want to understand the opportunities and derisk your investment strategy in life sciences. Source: https://lnkd.in/eiQbMkBr

We had the pleasure of leading a panel on data-driven approaches to VC investment at VC investment at Zero One Hundred Conferences (PE & VC Platform). Here are our key takeaways: 📈 A data-enabled approach to VC has emerged as a significant performance differentiator. Utilizing data not only enhances fund operations and reduces risk across portfolios but also provides a competitive edge in identifying opportunities. Unfortunately, at least half of the players in the EU market remain in denial, though this mindset is expected to shift soon. 📊 Traditionally, VC funds have primarily used data for monitoring portfolio performance and conducting due diligence on potential investments. However, an evidence-based approach is beneficial throughout the VC value chain and across the entire fund lifecycle—this includes raising capital, formulating investment strategies, sourcing deals, supporting funded companies, engaging in mergers and acquisitions, and closing funds. 💫 For small to mid-sized funds who want to be more data-enabled, the most cost-effective approach involves establishing a modest data management function while relying on external vendors for tools and data / knowledge acquisition. While smaller funds tend to procure services, larger funds often invest in acquiring data sources directly. 🎓 The major challenges in adopting more data-driven strategy include: - A general lack of buy-in from stakeholders (sticking with the old ways). - Insufficient data literacy. - Poor data management and integration practices. - An absence of bias aversion and frequent misinterpretation of outcomes. - Difficulty in filtering out a hype. We were honored to host some of the most insightful panelists at the conference. Thank you, Henrik Berg, Anastasia Gonotskaya, Dr. Tanja Emmerling, Dr. Hauke Hansen and Antoine Latrille for advancing an evidence-based approach within the industry. If any of the topics discussed pique your interest, please don't hesitate to contact us.

See you in Amsterdam on 16.-18. April! We will be driving a panel discussion on The Growing Role of Data Engineering in European Venture Capital, at 0100 Conference Europe. https://lnkd.in/dTpdpHHE Reach out a meet us!

CRISPR-Cas9 is a story of amazing technology, complex life cycle of biotech innovation, cautionary tale on the importance of IP in #BioPharma and a masterclass in dealmaking.  Here is the IP-specific timeline: - 2008: Erik Sontheimer and Luciano Marrafinni published a paper https://lnkd.in/dzT9d9qZ where they identified CRISPR as a tool for targeting specific parts of a DNA and as a “general purpose gene-editing tool”. They applied for a patent but got rejected because “they were unable to reduce it to any practical application”. - 2011: Jennifer Doudna co-founded Caribou Biosciences - June 2012: Emmanuelle Charpentier, Jennifer Doudna et al. published a paper https://lnkd.in/duF9W8r where they revealed family of endonucleases that use this mechanism and highlight the potential for “programmable genome editing”. They applied for a patent https://lnkd.in/dz57JsqU which took 6 YEARS (!!) to get granted. - Jan 2013 (6 months later): Group led by Feng Zhang from Broad Institute and MIT applied for a patent https://lnkd.in/d6aC2B2g in an expedited process. The patent was granted in 2014.  - Feb 2013: Feng Zhang et al. published https://lnkd.in/dm3WuYTn where they demonstrated the mechanism on human and mouse cells.  - 2013: Emmanuelle Charpentier co-founded CRISPR Therapeutics.   - November 2013: Jennifer Doudna and Feng Zhang cofounded Editas Medicine. It has an exclusive license to use Zhang’s CRISPR methods. - 2015: Charpentier and Doudna requested a patent interference proceeding against the patent granted to Feng Zhang. - 2017: Results of the proceeding came and found no interference. Meaning that the Broad Institute was able to keep its US patents which claim methods of using CRISPR-Cas9 in mammalian cells while UC Berkeley can keep its US patent application, which claims methods of using CRISPR-Cas9 in any cells. If you plan to use this technology, you may have to license it from both of them. - Nov 2018: Vertex Pharmaceuticals and CRISPR Therapeutics started a trial  https://lnkd.in/dJveCMEg to use CRISPR based therapy CTX001 in Subjects With Severe Sickle Cell Disease.  - Dec 2023: Vertex Pharmaceuticals Enter into Non-exclusive License Agreement for CRIPSR-Cas9 with Editas Medicine. - Dec 2023: FDA approves Casgevy (former CTX001) for treatment of sickle cell disease. - Apr 2024: Currently there are 6 separate clinical trials for CTX001.  - Oct 2024: Estimated completion date of Phase 3 CRISPR based therapy CTX001 in Subjects With Severe Sickle Cell Disease. It took 15 years to take an innovation from inception in academic setting to successful end of phase 2 clinical trials. It will take another year to conclude the Phase 3 and if all goes well, it could take as little as 6 months to bring the therapy to market. #clinicaltrials #pharma #lifesciences #biotech #innovation-lifecycle

𝗣𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗼𝗽 𝗕𝗶𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗚𝗲𝗻𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗰𝘀 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗯𝘆 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁 𝗖𝗮𝗽 We thought it will be interesting to look at patent activity of #Biomedical and #Genetics Companies / conglomerates with highest market cap. Bristol Myers Squibb is a clear outlier here. Seems it is related to their acquisition of Karuna Therapeutics. Other notable cases with high number of granted patent applications are Amgen, Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Regeneron, Gilead Sciences, Biogen, Illumina, Incyte and QIAGEN. Data source: EPO + proprietary analysis Data cutoff: 2000 Q1 - 2023 Q4 Inspiration: Reza Zahiri, PhD, MBA and his post, link in comments

Delving deeper into our exploration of the clinical trials landscape in 2023 (Part 2): 🔍 Examining clinical trial activity per intervention category, we unravel the overall top 10 🏅, witness categories with remarkable year-by-year growth 🚀, and delve into the categories experiencing a notable decline 📉 in activity. These highlights not only capture the statistical increases and reductions but also paint a vivid picture of the diverse and evolving landscape of medical interventions, from the intricate world of genetics to the nuanced realm of behavioural health. #ClinicalTrials #ResearchTrends #2023InReview

Delving deeper into our exploration of the clinical trials landscape in 2023 (Part 2): 🔍 Examining clinical trial activity per intervention category, we unravel the overall top 10 🏅, witness categories with remarkable year-by-year growth 🚀, and delve into the categories experiencing a notable decline 📉 in activity. These highlights not only capture the statistical increases and reductions but also paint a vivid picture of the diverse and evolving landscape of medical interventions, from the intricate world of genetics to the nuanced realm of behavioural health. #ClinicalTrials #ResearchTrends #2023InReview

At Covariate, we've delved into 2023 data on US/EU biotech & pharma landscape. In a series of posts, we'll spotlight key trends, top players, and standout institutions in clinical trials, life science research, and the patent arena. 🚀 Let's kick off with clinical trials (1) In 2023, we saw 33,578 trials initiated (first patient, first visit). Interestingly, this marks the lowest count since 2019. The decline is linked to a) a conservative market shift in 2022-2023, favoring more stable assets over clinical research, and b) an outlier spike in US/EU clinical trial activity during the 2020-2022 COVID-19 pandemic. Stay tuned for more insights into the dynamic world of biotech and pharma! 💡 #ClinicalTrials #Biotech #Pharma #insights #healthcare #medtech

How do we define truth in science? How do we communicate that truth to general public? In the times of ever growing echo chambers and relativisation of evidence, these questions really matter. They really matter to Covariate's vision of open science. That's why we were really happy to accept the invitation to this year's Nothing But The Truth Conference and participate on scheduled workshops. What an amazing speaker/workshop lineup, including: Mikkel Gerken, Inkeri Koskinen, Karen Douglas, Stephan Lewandowsky, Marion Koopmans, Sarahanne Field, George Marshall, Anne Ruth Mackor. Thanks to amazing organisers: - University of Groningen - Research School of Behavioural and Cognitive Neurosciences https://lnkd.in/eQg5n2X2 - Universty Medical Center Groningen - Open Science Community Groningen https://lnkd.in/eRvc62iS Special thanks to Naďa Majerníková for connecting us to the event and all the passionate participants.